In
Dutch, this church is known under the name "Sint Jacobskerk".
It is the tomb of the Prince of Painting, Peter Paul Rubens, that
attracts most visitors to this church. But there is much more besides, for
St. James’ Church is sumptuously decorated. The parish could certainly
afford such opulence when the church was built (1491-1656) and the area
inhabited by the upper middle classes, merchants and members of the
aristocrary.
They wanted to display their wealth by building a tower which was higher
than that of the Cathedral. Hence the imposing base. However, that
demonstration of rivalry ceased after 55 metres for financial reasons.
The parishioners lavished their wealth with more success on the inside of
the church. Here more than one hundred sorts of marble are be found, which
according to the eighteenth-century prefect from the Vatican, Cardinal
Garampi, ‘could scarcely have been worked more skillfully’. The walls are
hung with works by all the great artists of the city.

The Church has
twenty-three altars. Rubens’ tomb lies behind the main altar in the
Chapel of Our Lady. The painting ‘Our Lady surrounded by saints’ was painted
by him for his burial monument. Experts have pointed out that it is actually
a family portrait with Rubens as St. George.

This painting can be seen in
the chapel where the tomb of the Rubens Family is. It dates from 1855 and
shows the interior of the Rubens Family tomb. One can clearly see an open
coffin with a skeleton. P.P. Rubens himself ?